{"id":763651,"date":"2026-06-27T12:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763651\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T12:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:01:12","slug":"raiders-kirk-cousins-weighs-in-on-turf-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/763651\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders\u2019 Kirk Cousins Weighs In on Turf Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">The debate that always heats up during the offseason and in the summer is whether the NFL should move to all-natural grass fields. NFL players have said in the past that they would like to play on natural grass rather than the turf in some stadiums across the league. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">They see it as a safety issue and believe that injuries will go down if all stadiums have natural grass. It has been a topic for the league for a long time. Now, it is even more at the front because of the FIFA World Cup that is currently taking place in the United States. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kw2r5x52xjes71wk80.jpg\" alt=\"mkm\" title=\"mkm\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"79\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The NFL logo is seen on  Jan. 31, 2023, on the field for Super Bowl LVII at State Farm Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>News Super Bowl Lvii Preparations | Rob Schumacher\/The Republic \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7d\">That tournament requires that host stadiums provide natural grass to be played on. And that is exactly what the NFL stadiums that have turf did. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7g\">That caught the attention of a lot of players around the NFL, as some are attending the games in the World Cup. They are seeing it and wondering why they cannot get the NFL to do this for themselves. <\/p>\n<p>NFL Needs to Move to All Grass Playing Fields<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kw2r8sxs8rvjaaxzgb.jpg\" alt=\"wfe\" title=\"wfe\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"7t\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jan 4, 2026; Paradise, Nevada, USA; The Las Vegas Raiders shield logo at midfield at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">Not all injuries happen on turf, but who&#8217;s to say that those are also because of the wear and tear that happens when you play on a turf field? To many, it is easier on the body, and it makes the game of football better. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"80\">It will remain a topic for a long time, and I could see the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/raiders\/onsi\/las-vegas-what-justifies-successful-2026-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> requiring stadiums to have natural grass on their fields. That will be something interesting if it does that place. But if FIFA can do it, so can the NFL. That is what the players want and if it could be something that makes players play longer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/01kw3bds3qp75pyqjgd5.jpg\" alt=\"Kirk Cousins\" title=\"Kirk Cousins\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"8a\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Jun 3, 2026; Henderson, NV, USA;  Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) warms up during organized team activities at Intermountain Health Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-Imagn Images | Candice Ward-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8e\">Las Vegas Raiders quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/raiders\/onsi\/las-vegas-how-kirk-cousins-handling-approach-mendoza\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kirk Cousins<\/a> spoke about grass or turf recently, and he has some interesting things to say about it. <\/p>\n<p>Kirk Cousins on Grass Fields and Turf Fields<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8o\">&#8220;I notice that you could not beat natural grass fields. It felt so much better than the nicest field turf you can get. Going into the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/raiders\/onsi\/author\/mcihael-canelo\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> NFL<\/a> I preferred grass. Not all grass fields are created equal. You go to Wembley Stadium in London, that had a different feel of natural grass than Lambeau Field&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8r\">&#8220;I always side with well-kept grass; you cannot beat that. That is assuming it is going to be kept to the standard that you are expecting. Field turf is the simple answer in so many ways for so many people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate that always heats up during the offseason and in the summer is whether the NFL should&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-763651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}